The lungfish burst into the air pocket, shrieking. Raz and Lili saw it coming. A hail of psychic projectiles greeted the beast. It quickly proved too much for the lungfish, driving it back to the water, disappearing into the depths, biding its time for another chance to strike. And that was succinct summary of Raz and Lili's life for the past ten minutes.

They were nearing their limit, and they both knew it. They had to lean on each other, literally, to stay on their feet. This couldn't continue for much longer.

"This is a waste of time," Lili coughed.

Raz wheezed a weak chuckle. "I wouldn't call keeping ourselves alive a waste of time, but you do you."

"I'm serious!" Lili took her eyes off of the barrier for a split second. "What's a lake monster even doing stealing psychic brains? What's it using it for?"

"Food?"

"Serious!"

"Hey, I don't know what lake monsters eat!"

A rumbling shriek sent them both into silence. The edges of the air pocket shuddered. And moved, inwards. The dome was shrinking.

Lili gasped. Raz thinned his lips into a line.

"Hmm. Don't like that."

Another shriek, another shudder. A looming shadow passed by the dome as it began to shrink faster.

"Say you're right, and this thing hasn't been spending all of its time down here slurping on prepubescent brain juice." Raz suppressed a gulp. The Hand crept ever closer. "What does that mean?"

"It means… someone else has the brains, and they're using this monster to attack people." Lili's eyes followed the shadow, now not with anger or disgust. "This lungfish could be just as much a victim as the campers are."

Raz caught the shadow from the edges of his vision. He remembered the wild animals he had to contend with throughout the day. They were aggressive, but only when provoked. He never saw them go out of their way to attack the campers. This lake monster was the sole exception. Lili's reasoning made a lot of sense.

He cringed as he remembered the sheer amount of psi-blasts he'd unloaded onto the poor thing. "I don't feel good now, morally speaking."

"It's… unfortunate." Her tone carried the tinge of regret, but was quickly shrugged off. "But we can't beat ourselves up over it. If we didn't defend ourselves, we would've ended up brainless like the other campers."

Raz's gaze hardened, and so did his determination. "If it needs saving, then we will help him," he declared. "We will break it free from whatever is controlling it."

"How is it even being controlled?" Lili wracked her brain, through the history of mind control that she must have learned at some point in camp. "I don't remember seeing any external devices on it. The control device must be embedded deep within."

The words echoed within Raz's mind. "Deep within…"

The shadow perched itself upon a ruined steel mill. Raz could feel it eyeing them close, waiting for them to make their next move first, while exerting most of its effort to shrinking the dome. Its engorged head almost seemed to hinder its movement as it found purchase atop the mill. As if the head wasn't meant to be that way.

Light shone in Raz's eyes.

"We knock it out." Raz reached inside his pack, and brought the Psycho-Portal to light. "And we use this."

Lili saw the Psycho-Portal, and nearly choked on air. "Where did you get that?!"

"From Sasha?"

"Sasha gave you a Psycho-Portal?"

"N-not exactly." Raz scratched the back of his neck. Boy, how to make this brief. "I sorta… took it?"

The glare carved upon Lili's brow could kill even the strong-hearted.

"It was just lying there in Sasha's lab! He left in a hurry, so I thought I'd hold on to it so no one would steal it!"

"It did get stolen! By you!"

"Can we not do this right now?" Raz glanced at the watching lungfish, then at the shrinking edges.

"Fine," Lili relented, for now. This won't be the last he'll hear about it. "How are we supposed to knock it out in the first place?"

"Well, I saw this move once in True Psychic Tales-"

"No."

"Just! Listen!" The grin on his lips exuded such raw confidence that Lili was inclined let him continue. "A supercharged psi-blast made with a combination of both of our psychic energies, mixed with elements of a confusion grenade. If we land a bullseye on the monster's giant forehead, that should be more than enough to knock it out cold. You following?"

Lili couldn't hold back a sigh. She followed that just fine. "Yeah," she said. She's read that issue. "I know that move."

A new glint made itself known in Raz's eyes. He would have never pegged Lili to be a fellow fan. If only he could have found out in literally any other situation. Oh, well. This won't be the last time she'll hear about this.

Raz dug into his pockets and pulled out a handful of arrowheads that he hadn't handed over to Cruller yet. He offered his hand out to Lili, his lips curled into a daring smile.

"You with me?"

"Like I'm going to say no."

Lili clasped her hand around his tight. Psychic energy surged forth, from the arrowheads to their tired minds - a much-needed boost for one last round of combat.

Powerless arrowheads clattered to the dirt. The duo stood tall by themselves. Lili stared down the lake monster. Raz eyed a wooden bell tower on the verge of collapsing.

"You set the trap."

"You bait the monster."

Lili took off in a sprint. The monster perked upon its perch. Pieces of debris outside the dome were lifted from the sea floor, and launched towards the monster. All missed, or stopped entirely due to the water's resistance, but Lili has made her intent clear. The monster rose, visibly aggravated, and propelled itself from atop the mill, fangs bared, aiming for Lili.

Raz fired a psi-blast at a rotting strut, the wood crumbling instantly, the tower growing more and more unstable. Another blast, another chunk of the tower destroyed. The structured creaked and moaned, leaning even more precariously to one side. He stole a glance to the other side of the dome; Lili was running towards him, and the monster was about to breach. He cursed under his breath. Thought he'd have more time.

Lili heard the monster break the surface, felt its pounding footsteps behind her. She tossed any debris within her telekinetic reach behind her, not looking, not stopping. Her legs burned. Her chest heaved. She silently resolved to start working out, if she survived.

Raz fired three rapid shots. The tower buckled. Lili closed the distance. The monster was hot on her heels. Raz reared back, and summoned a giant psychic fist. This was going to be close.

"Sorry about this, buddy. This is gonna sting a little!"

He swung.

The tower tumbled and crashed. Lili dived through the shower of debris. The monster lunged with an open maw. Raz sent a second fist into the chaos.

Raz caught Lili and pulled her out. The monster was too slow. It barely had time to screech before the collapsing tower buried it under a mess of rotting wood and rusted steel. When the dust settled, the monster has been well and truly trapped.

Raz placed Lili down on her feet. He rushed to her side within moments. The monster was already thrashing about in its makeshift cage. They don't have much time.

Raz placed his right hand between them. Lili followed his lead with her left.

"I'll add the confusion. You focus on the power!"

"Got it!"

Psychic energy surged forth, power made material. A swirling orb, a kaleidoscope of Raz's orange and Lili's magenta coalescing between them. It grew, and grew, and grew, dwarfing either of its creators. The force of the energy was palpable, their clothes and hair flapping in the wind, sending the sand on the lakebed scattering to the air. The entire dome was illuminated by its brilliant light, by the manifestation of their trust, their bond, their will.

Raz and Lili took aim. The monster stilled.

"Two minds become one!"

Lili shot Raz an incredulous stare.

"No."

"You know the line."

Raz had the audacity to wear a stupid grin. Lili sighed, but glared ahead.

"Trust in Psychonauts!"

Roar, and release.

The blast split the air. The knockback took their feet from under them. The impact was thunderous, deafening, earthshaking. The world was consumed by a blinding mix of orange and magenta. The fishes around the dome scattered for safety. Even the creeping Hand, for a moment, fled in fear.

When the chaos ceased, and color returned to the world, Raz and Lili slowly opened their eyes. Lying unconscious before them, caged by a tower's carcass, its head half-buried in the sand, was the once-fearsome monster of Lake Oblongata.

Lili coughed a laugh of disbelief. Raz grinned from ear to ear.

"It worked!"

"Hell yeah! Up top!"

The two locked eyes, and did just that, and instantly regretted it. Handling such a massive concentration of raw psychic energy has left their palms sore and in pain - something that they realized far too late.

But their night was from over. They helped each other to their feet, taking cautious, measured steps as they approached the monster, just in case. But it seemed their worry was unfounded. The monster was indeed out like a light. A second passed, a moment of calm in the submerged settlement, as Raz and Lili processed what they have just accomplished, that they did this. They won.

"Sorry, buddy. You're probably innocent, but that felt good," Raz said, patting the monster just above its swollen eye.

Lili let herself smile in satisfaction. She had to agree with that. "Not every day you get to bring a comic book to life."

"Alright," Raz pulled out the Psycho-Portal from his pack and held it to the monster's forehead, "let's dive in."

The device latched on firmly onto the monster's grotesque head. Raz was ready to dive in the second that small door opened, until he realized Lili was no longer standing next to him.

Raz looked over his shoulder and saw her standing a few paces back. "Lili?"

"You go in. I'll stand guard, make sure no one attacks us while you're vulnerable," she said, crossing her arms. Closing herself off from the world.

"What're you talking about? What's gonna get us down here, telekinetic guppies?" The joking smile on his lips broke as quickly as it appeared. "Wait, are there telekinetic guppies?"

"No, no, I'm-" Lili shook her head. She suddenly couldn't bring herself to look Raz in the eye. "I don't have a lot of experience with mental world traversal, okay? The only times I've done it is for Basic Braining in Coach's head, and that's it."

Raz blinked. Lili doubted herself? That simply won't do. "And I have never entered someone's psyche until this morning, so I'd say we're about on the same level."

"But you are a natural at this. I saw how you handled yourself in Basic Braining. Your first time, and you showed no disorientation, your movements are completely in-sync." Her crossed arms had become more of a self-hug. Her eyes were pointed stubbornly at the sand around her feet. "If I go in with you, I'll just slow you down."

"But you know more about how the mind works," Raz countered, stepping closer to her, closing the distance. "If I go in by myself, and it's completely different than Basic Braining, I'm toast."

Behind closed lips, Lili gritted her teeth. Why was he being so pushy about this? He was doing fine traipsing all over camp all day all by himself. She breathed in, and finally looked up, ready to give him a piece of her mind. And stopped dead in her tracks. Raz had suddenly gotten very close to her. Inches close.

"Lili," he began. "We got this far only by doing it together. That's the only way we'll see this through to the end. If you stop, I stop. If you go, I go."

Lili opened her mouth, but words continued to fail her. Why couldn't she speak? Why did he think it was okay to get this close to her? Has he always been this hot?

It. Has it always been this hot.

"So?"

Lili shook her head. And stepped back, so she could speak again.

"If you need me to babysit you so bad, fine."

Her words plastered a huge, dumb grin on Raz's face. He offered his hand, and Lili took it. The Psycho-Portal opened. The emerging light slowly overwhelmed their vision, welcoming them both inside the mind of a monster. Their grip on the other's hand never faltered.

They will see this mission through to the end, as one.


So, this is a little unusual. This fic was commissioned by nsart over on Tumblr, who wanted a continuation of my fic Together. They didn't really give me any further guidelines besides that, so here's hoping I delivered with something you liked.

Also, yes, I know how the powers in the game actually work. Let's just call this what the anime adaptation would do. Starting to feel bad though, doing all these things to Linda. Hey, at least, if anyone wants to continue this again, the next part is going to be all about helping Linda.